TV SERIES · 1975– · USA
Starsky and Hutch
33 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (33)
- #001
Paul Michael Glaser repeatedly spoke about how much he hated the car, how much he hated playing Starsky, and campaigned to have his contract terminated. He said that at the time, had the series not been cancelled, he would eventually have refused to continue. Like many television actors of the era, he wanted to become a film director, but his attempts to direct five episodes of Starsky and Hutch (1975) came to nothing because of the many artistic shots that did not fit the way the show was originally designed.
- #002
There is a missing, unaired episode of the series titled "Honeytrap," in which Donna Mills appeared as a guest star. She played Cathy, a wife who seduces single men into sleeping with her, after which her jealous husband shoots them dead.
- #003
Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson was a health-food "nut" and was often seen preparing smoothies made of almond milk, wheat germ and raw honey, or eating muesli for breakfast. Dave Starsky, by contrast, was a junk-food "addict" who favored plenty of pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs. The actors' real-life food preferences were in fact the exact opposite.
- #004
Starsky wore his distinctive cardigan sweater only three times in the series: in the pilot (1975), in "Terror on the Docks" (1975) and in "The Run" (1976). It nevertheless appears in both the opening sequence and many promotional photos, which is why it became famous. Paul Michael Glaser later said in an interview that the garment was bought from a Mexican shop in the heart of downtown Los Angeles and was known as a "Mexican sweater." Fans call it the "Starsky sweater."
- #005
The show's popularity in France was mainly due to its dubbing. It contained a great deal of improvisation and very funny, often absurd French-culture-specific colloquial dialogue that frequently had little to do with the American dialogue. The French version therefore has a much stronger comic element. The French actors who provided the dubbing added their impressive talents, but the French hardly know their dubbing artists — or there is too great a difference from the original material — and instead know the American actors.
- #006
In France, Huggy Bear is known and referred to as "Huggy les bons tuyaux," which means "Huggy good tips."
- #007
David Soul's jump onto the roof of a car injured him at the time and also contributed to the back problems he suffered later in life.
- #008
Hutch appears to live in a French neighborhood. Indeed, in "Hutchinson for Murder One" (1978), a French bistro can be seen to the left of Hutch's "Venice Place," and to its right is an "à la carte" restaurant called "Chez Hélène," seen respectively through its window and by its striped awning. Venice Place sits exactly between the two French businesses. In an interesting twist of fate, David Soul later moved to France, where fans always treated him to Beatlemania-like "fever." It should also be noted that even in 1970s France it was known that Venice is a "city" located in Los Angeles. In France the series was even set in Los Angeles. There was no fictional "Bay City" in the French dub.
- #009
During the 1976 model year, the Ford Motor Company marketed about 1,000 Special Edition Gran Torino hardtops in the Starsky and Hutch (1975) paint scheme, but with a different white stripe. The Gran Torino was redesigned as the LTD II in 1977, and the station wagon was the only surviving version.
- #010
There is no such place as "Bay City": in France the TV series is set in Los Angeles, it is clearly set in Los Angeles from the pilot episode, and "Los Angeles" can be read on a street sign as Starsky and Hutch patrol the streets of Los Angeles.
- #011
The general premise of this TV series was inspired by the same two undercover New York City detectives who also inspired the film The Super Cops (1974).
- #012
Huggy Bear's surname is Brown.
- #013
Richard Ward played Dobey in the pilot episode of Starsky and Hutch (1975), but producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg brought Hamilton back from the unsold pilot of a detective TV series called "Stone." After Starsky and Hutch (1975) was cancelled, Hamilton appeared on television only a few more times and in 1985 quit acting to focus on running a nightclub and art gallery called Citadel d'Haiti on Sunset Boulevard. In the early 1980s he founded a record label called Chocolate Snowman, which mostly produced R&B and gospel music albums. He even sang on one of the albums, "Captain Dobey Sings the Blues."
- #014
In the pilot episode, according to the inventory list in Hutch's car, Detective Dave Starsky (Paul Michael Glaser) used his Beretta semi-automatic pistol. Detective Ken "Hutch" Hutchinson (David Soul) used a .38 Special revolver; it is later shown and appears to be a blue Model 10 Smith & Wesson with a raised nose. In the series, Starsky has a Smith & Wesson Model 59 9mm and Hutch a Colt Python .357 Magnum.
- #015
The show's theme music was changed three times. The first theme was the most dramatic and better suited to a police series. It remains fans' favorite.
- #016
Antonio Fargas took the role of Huggy Bear because of an earlier collaboration with director Barry Shear, who directed the pilot episode of this TV series, on Across 110th Street (1972).
- #017
David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser both appeared as guest stars in an episode of "Cannon," but four episodes apart! Soul appeared in "Nobody Beats the House" (1972) in December 1972, and Glaser in "Death of a Stone Seahorse" (1973) in January 1973. Soul even wore the long hair and mustache of Hutch from the fourth season of Starsky and Hutch (1975).
- #018
At the end of "Gillian" (1976), Hutch reveals that he is from Minnesota.
- #019
In December 2019, a TV film was planned to reunite Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul. Somehow, it never happened.
- #020
The Colt Python .357 Magnum that Hutch uses in every episode of Starsky and Hutch (1975) except the pilot is the same gun David Soul carried as Officer John Davis in the film Magnum Force.
- #021
Glaser is six months younger than Soul.
- #022
In the series, Starsky's home address turns out to be 2000 Ridgeway Ave in B.C. (meaning the fictional "Bay City").
- #023
As of Season 2, the French opening title sequence of the series was sung in French by Lionel Leroy.
- #024
Neither Starsky nor Hutch speaks with a California (also known as American Standard) accent. As such, both can be quite difficult for the series' foreign fans who are learning English as a second language to understand.
- #025
In the pilot episode, Starsky's red 1974 Special Edition Ford Gran Torino with the white stripe has chrome side mirrors, but in the second episode it has painted sport mirrors with remote control (it also has an interior switch and is cable-operated). Also, in the pilot the white stripe has a black border. In the second episode, however, the black border disappeared.
- #026
In Brazil, the name Huggy Bear was adapted as "Branca de neve," which means Snow White.
- #027
Apart from the "Big Four" of Starsky, Hutch, Dobey and Huggy Bear, Marki Bey appeared the most among all the actresses and named characters in the TV series, taking the screen six times as Officer Minnie Kaplan.
- #028
In France, this TV series was dubbed with a great deal of improvisation as well as very funny and often absurd French-culture-specific colloquialisms and expressions, which often had little to do with what was said in the American version. The French version therefore has more comedic elements, which makes the characters more interesting and endearing. This is mainly what lies behind its success and popularity in France. The French actors who provided the dubbing added their impressive talents, but the French hardly know their dubbing artists — or there is too great a difference from the original material — and instead know the American actors. The same happened with the dubbing of "The Persuaders!" (1971), and this also lies behind the mystery of the success of Jerry Lewis's films in the Hexagon.
- #029
STARSKY AND HUTCH was a collection of novels written by Richard Deming under the pseudonym Max Franklin.
- #030
For the episodes, they used Panavision cameras and lenses for Seasons 1-4.
- #031
Seasons 1, 2 and 3 were successful; Season 4 was a decline, so it was cancelled in 1979.
- #032
Starsky and Hutch (1975) (S&H) writer Anthony Yerkovich would go on to create and produce the hit TV police series Miami Vice (1984) (MV); writer Michael Mann would also be an executive producer of MV. S&H stars Paul Michael Glaser and David Soul would eventually direct episodes of MV, and star Antonio Fargas would later appear as a guest actor in an episode of MV. S&H guest stars Bill Duke and Edward James Olmos would also go on to direct episodes of MV, and the following S&H guest stars would later appear in MV: Edward James Olmos, Victor Argo, Debra Feuer, Melanie Griffith, Jerry Hardin, James Hong, Stephen McHattie, Philip Michael Thomas and Mykelti Williamson.
- #033
David Soul would appear in the TV miniseries Casablanca (1983) alongside Scatman Crothers, Roger Etienne, Rozelle Gayle, Zitto Kazann and Stan Rodarte, who had previously appeared in Starsky and Hutch (1975).
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